80

A Great Game - but get the Director's Cut

DE:HR is a fantastic game. A true successor to the original Deus Ex, HR keeps the multiple paths and play styles that we know and love. The gun play isn't the best out there, but then I prefer to take the stealth option. The guards can be dumb at times and the boss fights are a major pain but the graphics are crisp (and shouldn't demand too much from your rig) and the overall feel of the game is great. Most levels have side missions to discover and the game rewards exploration and listening to the NPCs rather than blasting everything that moves.
That said if you do want to buy DE:HR I suggest you pick up the Director's Cut. It includes everything in this version plus the DLC and is only slightly more expensive.

80

A Gratifyingly Good Game

This is basically what should have come out instead of Invisible War.
Storyline was generally good, if predictable, even with all the choices you have to make, I felt the outcomes were generally easy to figure out.
Gameplay is solid with a few amusing glitches and bugs which generally won't really detract from the gaming experience but add a few good laughs instead.
Just a quick note that killing people in the first section of the game does actually count towards your Pacifier achievement!
Anyway, good game. Not perfect or amazing, but certainly well worth a purchase.

87

Outstanding

A very good game. Good story, good stealth, great visuals.
I have played this game through a few times now and I have to say that each way is very entertaining, the non stealth will allow you to gain more xp for augments as it is harder to neutralize enemies and move undetected.
A more deadly play through gives less xp but is equally as fun.
I think that giving the player the 2 dlc weapons straight off was a bad idea seeing as you have to upgrade what you have and this makes it a bit unbalanced.
The story was well thought out and so was the world including emails and newspaper articles about world affairs.
The game does suffer a bit on the character front in my opinion and I know that not everyone can have a clear character arc but they did not seem to be as well fleshed out as the rest of the game.
I agree with other people that the boss fights were a weaker part to as they did not involve any the skills learnt throughout the game and instead became a battle of attrition and learning the routine of the awkward fight. One of the largest nit-picks from me would be the take downs while they are great to watch every time and are rewarding they are just overpowered, even if you have been detected you can sprint up to them and do an animation for a stealth take down where you tap them on their shoulder.
Overall a must buy that I highly recommend as it is among the best games of this gen.

86

Brilliant

This is a great game and one of the best. The action when it occurs is good and never too in your face but that was never my preferred way of playing this game. I liked to go stealth with the occasional gunfight and this is what the game is all about Choice. There is not one path which you must take, there are multiple paths with different advantages which makes this game shine compared to most FPS. The RPG elements work really well and deciding which augment to choose next can be tricky. Though amazingly I actually loved the story which is one of the best I know, the only problem with game is the bosses which are a pretty terrible encounters but luckily don't bring down the overall experience. This is a must buy for all SP lovers

89

Miles better than I was expecting.

I was very skeptical about this game when it came out. I'd been in and out of the Deus Ex series since the very first game and hadn't been paying much attention to the series. So I don't even know what made me even buy this. Maybe it was the fancy front cover or the fact it was a special edition and was relatively inexpensive at the time. Either way it was a great instinct buy!
The game opens up and is pretty boring to be honest with you. A little bit of conversation, a little bit of walking around very slowly and then it all kicks off. You end up fighting a battle you cant win. Before coming round to find yourself augmented. All sounds rather boring so far. And to be fair, it was.
But after the initial 20 minutes opening play it really get's going. There are so many ways to play this game. You can be aggressive or go stealth and complete most missions without killing a single soul where you can feel all righteous. There are usually many different routes to take through the area in which to complete the mission too.
The missions are not repetitive and you really can go about your mission as you wish. All you need to do is complete it. There are repercussions for which ever way you play so there really is some replay value in this. Personally I've been through it around 4 times and the game is that good I really didn't feel like I was getting bored because I made sure to complete each mission via a different route.
The upgrade system is absolutely brilliant. It's not over-technical and it's easy to get to grips with. And unlike most upgrade systems in games, I found pretty much every upgrade to be of value to me. The only problem is that you're never going to upgrade them all in one run through. This meant you could really focus on how you wanted to play the game. Like a ninja or like Rambo.
There was so much satisfaction from sneaking through areas unnoticed but then there was plenty of satisfaction on offer from completely clearing out an area of enemies. It was a rather strange feeling to know a game really nailed it, whichever way you went with it.
My personal favorite part was the hacking. Taking the terminal to a gun turret and configuring it to be one of your allies was particularly fun. And it was a god-send sometimes because there was really moments when you was tested.
The worst part has to be the bosses. They were mostly pointless and at times quite difficult for me. The most annoying part of all the bosses for me though was the fact the last boss felt like by far the easiest to defeat? I was not happy.
BUT that didn't stop me from easily classing it as one of my favorite games of recent times. It is a far from perfect game and could definitely be improved upon, but I fear for my social life the day they release a game that get's everything right.
I cant recommend the game enough. There's so much you can do and so many ways in which to do it that it really can be picked up, played and enjoyed by anybody. Whatever made me pick it up and buy it that day had better start helping me pick girlfriends. Because it nailed it that day!

95

Incredible

This is one of the best games released on the current generation. The story, gameplay mechanics and durability of this title make this an awesome experience. I'd recommend this game to anyone, especially people who are into stealthy and futuristic games.